Finals.

Tis the time of the semester for finals...I had 3 today and I will finish up with 2 more tomorrow!  After that I will officially be done with my semester abroad...hard to believe. Looking forward to going home and seeing everyone though. 

Rome.

Florence and Rome.

Italy.

After my adventures in Greece I spent 5 days in Italy visiting Florence and Rome.  I would have liked to visit more cities but I was crunched for time and did not want to cut Florence or Rome short.  I spent my time in Florence with who has become my "sidekick" for most of my trips thus far, Kara.  She has been studying in Florence so I stayed at her apartment and she was my unofficial travel guide throughout the city.  

Florence is an amazing little city, and I must put emphasis on the little.  It is not very big but there is plenty to see.  I visited the Uficci Museum(I don't know if that is how you spell it but you get the idea), Michelangelo's David, The Duomo, and much much more as I walked around the city everyday I was there.  My last night, Kara and I went to this restaurant where I had the best pasta I have had since being in Europe...it was a pear tortellini with some kind of cream sauce, whatever it was it was amazing. And then they had this cheescake that was probably the best cheescake I have ever had. When I go back to Florence my first stop will be that restaurant.  

Rome was my next stop, so I said goodbye to Florence and Kara and took the 5am train to Rome on Tuesday to meet up with an old friend of mine, Ian McCormick.  We tore Rome up!  In the 2 days that I was in Rome we saw almost everything you could want to see...the first day we went on a walking tour of the entire city which included a lot of cultural sights and a great history of the city.  And the second day we went on a guided tour of Vatican City, got to hear and see the Pope speak, climbed to the top of St. Peter's Cathedrale, visited the Colosseum, walked through the Roman forum, and the Palatine!!  We were going non stop ALL day but it was well worth the effort.  Rome is a wonderful place but it is soo expansive that you almost feel overwhelmed by it...I will definitely make a return.

My trip home from Rome took me well over 16 hours on the train...dont ask me for details because it was not an enjoyable trip.  I left at 630am and got back to Montpellier at 1130pm...enough said.  Italy has to be one of the most interesting countries I have been to(I also saw my last name everywhere...I wonder why?!) and it was fitting that it was my last trip of my abroad experience.

Not a clue.

This week in school was chalk full of tests, i think I had something like 5 or 6 of them...but that is not the reason for the post, it's only for hope of gaining some sympathy.  On Thursday in my last class of the day one of my professors who will go unnamed for the moment was in the process of handing out our last test for the week.  Now just to put this into context, this specific professor is what I would refer to as an airhead...she goes in and out of consciousness throughout the day.  Not meaning that she actually passes out in class but that she is not always there mentally...if you are catching my drift.  The reason for this is still up for debate as my classmates and I have a few theories.  Well on this specific day, as she passed out these tests she must have been in another one of her "worlds", because when I looked at the test I didn't understand what I was supposed to do as all of the questions looked as if they were already answered...and they were!!  My professor photocopied and handed out copies of the answer sheet to us!  And once she realized her error she quickly ran around the room scooping up all of the papers in a flurry so that we could not see any more of the answers.  Then she proceeded to apologize for her mistake and then left the room for 20 minutes as she made new copies of the correct test all the while leaving the answer sheets on the table in front of us.......I forget what happened next.  

They're baaaaack.

Just the latest fashion trend to hit Europe...what I have been referring to as the "Hammer" pants in reference to the puffy pants MC Hammer used to sport back in the 80's was it?  Well now they are back in full effect and ALL over Montpellier.  At first I thought it was just a few odd(maybe fashion forward) people wearing them but then they came out in bunches!  One, two, three, four people wearing them in one group!!  I don't understand it and I am hoping that this trend has not yet hit the United States...and that it never will.  These pants are taking baggy to an entirely new level.  I am in the process of documenting this finding with my personal camera and will post pictures as soon as I take them...this weirdness must be exposed!  

Just A Taste.